My village can't be like this

Chapter 610 Kiwi Festival
When Zhang An woke up early the next morning, he found that his son had already gotten up and was driving his new car around in the yard.

The children's car sent by Chen Ze was much more fun than the toy cars at home, so Xiao Jia immediately threw away the old toys and wanted not to leave this new baby for even a minute.

Of course, under the supervision of his grandparents.

Fortunately, when building the house, Zhang An listened to the advice of his father Zhang Jianguo and left a spacious yard.

Speaking of which, only Zhang An's generation has no obsession with the size of the yard, and they are quite neither too high nor too low.

Looking back, our fathers of the previous generation were all obsessed with having a yard. As long as they built a new house, there would definitely be a large yard and vegetable garden because it made living there comfortable.

Next generation children also want to have a big yard at home. After all, buying a car is not a rare thing for them in the future. In a few years, many families will own their own cars, so having a big yard will make parking convenient.

Moreover, Zhang An's yard is more spacious than that of ordinary people. Even after digging a fish pond, there is still a large space left, which allows the little guy to drive freely in the yard.

Otherwise, if the yard is too small, the little one will have to drive the car to the road outside to play.

Although the children in the village play on the road every day, the little guy is still too young and Zhang An's family dare not let him go out.

Firstly, there are too many pedestrians on the road. Secondly, the roads in the village are not very wide. Some downhill sections are very steep. In addition, it is next to a river, so it is not a place to drive a car.

Haven’t you seen that when Zhang An and his generation were still young, they played pinball cars on the road and had no idea how many times they had overturned and fallen under the curb.

Anyway, every time I overturned, at the very least I would get some scrapes, a few bumps, and be covered in mud. At the worst, I would dislocate bones and get a few bloody cuts on my head.

But at that time, they were very tough, and scratches were nothing. Even if they were injured, they would just grit their teeth and get through it.
Only when you are injured or bleeding, which cannot be concealed, will the adults in the family find out.

But if you do this, once your wounds have healed, you will definitely be beaten.

Not to mention the distant past, a few years ago, Zhang Tie asked Zhang An to help him make a pinball car, and it also had many accidents.

Although he never got hurt, he often fell back home covered in mud and was often beaten with spicy noodles by his third aunt.

At Zhang An's house, not to mention letting the little guy out to roam, Wang Fang and Zhang Jianguo were worried even if he was in the yard, and they often had to keep an eye on him.

This is the only child in the family, and they don't want the little one to get hurt.

"Hey, Qiqi is driving."

When the little guy was driving around Zhang An, Zhang Jianye came over.

“Third Grandpa!!”

As soon as he saw Zhang Jianye, little Siqi abandoned his father and drove towards his third uncle.

"Hey, you drive really well. You should grow up quickly and take your dad's big car. Here, Third Grandpa will give you a fruit to eat."

Zhang Jianye spoke to the little guy with a loving smile on his face, then took out a few kiwis from his pocket.

Wait until you peel off the brown skin before handing it to the little one.

When the little guy saw the food, he no longer cared about playing. He immediately stopped the car next to his third grandfather, took the kiwi fruit with only the flesh left in it with both hands, and stuffed it into his mouth impatiently.

For him, eating is much more attractive than playing.

"Uncle San, the kiwis have started to ripen in the past two days, right?"

The kiwi fruit that Zhang An gave to the villagers to grow was not like the grafted seedlings of later generations, but the variety that was very common in the mountains.

Normally, it would not mature until the end of October, and the fruit would not be very big.

However, under the influence of space, the maturity period was advanced by a whole month, and the fruits were not only larger, but also tasted much better.

In fact, it is quite early for the kiwifruit to mature in October, because these kiwifruits are inferior to late-maturing varieties.

In later generations, so many kiwifruits began to ripen in August, mostly because they were sprayed with pesticides too frequently.

The crops grown in Changqing Village are not treated with anything else except pesticides during insect plague seasons.

"Yes, it's already started to mature. Boss Lu also said that he will be here in the next two days."

Speaking of this, Zhang Jianye had a very satisfied look on his face. This year not only was there a bumper harvest of grain in the fields, but also of kiwi fruit in the orchard. This year could be said to be the best year in recent years.

"By the way, Xiao An, we are going to pick a load of kiwis and bring them back to the village today. You can drive the carriage up and help pull it."

Afterwards, Zhang Jianye talked about the visit.

Nowadays, many farming roads have been built in the village, and they can be found almost everywhere where kiwis are grown. When picking kiwis, you can just park your horse-drawn carriage there.

This is much more convenient than using people to carry things back on their shoulders or using oxen and horses to carry them back in the past.

But the dark horse of Zhang An's family didn't recognize anyone else. Ordinary people couldn't stop him once he was let out, so when Zhang Jianye came to borrow the car, he borrowed the person as well.

"Isn't Lu Cheng here yet? Why are we picking them today?"

In the past, because the village did not build a road to the orchard, everyone could only pick the fruits in advance and take them home to make it easier for Lu Cheng to purchase them.

But the road has been repaired this year. When Lu Cheng brings his men over, they can just drive the car to the side of the orchard to harvest the fruits, which saves the villagers a lot of effort.

So Zhang An couldn't understand why his uncle's family had to pick the kiwis in advance.

"That's not the case. The fruits we picked today are not for Boss Lu. Zhang Ping's father told us a few days ago that there will be a kiwi festival in the village today. He asked us to pick some fruits from each family and let the people who come to the village choose. And it's not just people from our village. He even notified the families who grow kiwi fruits in other villages around. The village is very lively today. Don't you know about this?"

Seeing that Zhang An didn't know, Zhang Jianye explained with a smile.

"So that's how it is. I really didn't know that. Uncle, please wait for two minutes. I'll go get the carriage ready."

Zhang An really didn't know about this because he hadn't met Zhang Jianwen for quite some time.

However, it can still be seen that Zhang Jianwen and his team put a lot of thought into this National Day, with local opera, iron flower making, bamboo rafting, and folk song and dance performances.

I thought that was enough, but I didn’t expect there would be an entire kiwi festival.

But seriously, this kiwi festival is a really good idea.

Because of the National Day, so many people have flocked into the village. It would be a waste of this great opportunity if we don’t take the opportunity to promote our village’s specialties.

If we were to say what the distinctive specialty of Changqing Village is today, it would definitely be kiwi fruit.

Although many villagers do not grow much at home, with only three to five acres of land, at least 70 to 80 percent of the households in the village grow some crops. When all these are added together, the output is a huge number.

In addition, in the past two years, kiwi fruit has really brought great benefits to the villagers and laid a very solid foundation. Therefore, for a long time to come, kiwi fruit will definitely be the leading industry of Changqing Village.

"Don't be so anxious. We just went to pick them not long ago this morning. We just wanted to tell you when we came back to get them. It's totally in a hurry if you wait an hour or so."

Seeing Zhang An getting up to drive, Zhang Jianye quickly pulled him aside and said, "What are you waiting for? I have nothing to do, so I can help pick the flowers if I drive over."

Zhang An then realized that his uncle had just returned from the orchard. No wonder he brought kiwis for the little guy.

"Yeah, uncle. Let Xiao An and the others go over to help. You didn't even tell me about this. Really?"

At this time, Wang Fang also spoke, and Zhang Jianguo next to her had already stood up and went home to change clothes.

Because Su Ying is busy preparing lessons for the next two days and has a lot of test papers to correct, she has to stay at home to take care of the little one and can't go, so Zhang An and his father have to go to help.

"Sister-in-law, there's really no need. We're just picking one truckload. It won't take us much time. You just need to take a rest."

It’s not that Zhang Jianye was being polite, it’s mainly because there was only one truckload of kiwis, and his family could pick them all in two hours.

But it was as if he hadn't said anything. Zhang An had already led out the horses and started preparing the carriage.

So he had no choice but to accept the kindness of Zhang An's family.

After the carriage was ready and they changed into working clothes, the three of them got in the carriage and headed for the orchard.

Sure enough, as soon as I left the village, I could see many people picking kiwi fruit in their own kiwi orchards.

"Speaking of which, Third Uncle, we are going to pick fruits today. Have you informed Lu Cheng? You have signed a contract with him."

Halfway through the journey, Zhang An asked Zhang Jianye this question.

Since last year, Lu Cheng has signed agreements with all the villagers who grow kiwifruit and made an agreement to purchase all kiwifruit.

This is definitely a good thing for the fruit farmers in Changqing Village. They don’t have to worry about the problem of unsalable products, and the price given by Lu Cheng is quite high.

Because the other party offered such good conditions, Zhang An felt that he should tell them about his retail business in the village so that they would not feel uncomfortable.

"Don't worry, we have already informed Boss Lu about this matter in advance. It was Zhang Ping's father who called. Boss Lu is very supportive of us holding this kiwi fruit festival. As long as we don't find those purchasing dealers, it will be fine to sell them in the village."

Zhang Jianye understood that Zhang An was concerned about his family, so he spoke very happily.

"That's naturally good."

Zhang An was just worried that this matter would offend Lu Cheng, so he asked this question.

Now that there is no problem with Lu Cheng, this is a good thing for the villagers.

After all, no matter how low the retail price is, it will definitely be higher than the unified purchase price.

The villagers are naturally happy to see the extra part, but as for how much can be sold, that depends on their own abilities.

When we arrived at the orchard, we could see Zhang Tiegen and Yan Zi already inside helping Third Aunt pick fruit.

The only difference was that Zhang Tie was carrying a bamboo basket, but Yan Zi wasn't, because she was still young and her third aunt and uncle didn't allow her to carry too heavy a load.

In rural areas, it is common for children to be called to help with work in the fields.

For example, today, because it is the National Day holiday, everyone who is picking fruit will bring their children with them.

"Brother, you are here too."

As soon as the little girl saw Zhang An, she immediately became excited.

But the full-body apron she was wearing looked quite realistic.

"Haha, how much has Yan Zi picked today?"

Zhang An carried a large basket and went into the orchard.

"I've already picked several baskets, but I picked them with my mother."

Originally, the little girl was standing in a row with her third aunt, and after picking the fruits, she put them in her third aunt's basket.

But now that Zhang An is here, she rebelled and ran straight to Zhang An to pick off a frame with him.

"That's still pretty good. You have to work hard. I'll have enough money to buy you nice new clothes after the New Year."

While speaking, Zhang An discovered that the little girl was picking fruits quite quickly, but due to her height, some of the fruits were too high for her to reach.

"No need, I have too many clothes to wear."

When she heard about the new clothes, Yan Zi was not very happy. Instead, she took the initiative to say that she didn't need to buy them.

When the adults heard what the little girl said, they all showed relieved smiles on their faces.

If Yan Zi was still little, she would never ask for new clothes, but she would be very happy as long as you told her that you would buy them for her.

And being able to say this now shows that the little girl has not only grown up, but also become much more sensible.

However, in recent years, the conditions at my uncle's family have improved a lot. He doesn't have to worry about making ends meet like before, and he still gives his children enough. After all, he works hard all his life just for his children.

With the help of Zhang An and his father, Zhang Jianye's family had picked a cart full of kiwis in less than an hour.

After lunch at noon, everyone started to set up stalls in the threshing ground.

The villagers displayed their own kiwi fruits with joy of the harvest.

At the same time, fruit farmers from other villages who were invited by Zhang Jianwen also came here carrying their own fruits.

Zhang An took a look around and found that the kiwis grown by the villagers were much larger than those grown by people in other villages.

In the past, although he knew that kiwis grown in space were indeed larger, he had never had a clear comparison. But today he saw it clearly.

At this time, Zhang An probably understood why Zhang Jianwen was so kind to invite people from other villages to participate.

At this moment, the fruit farmers from other villages were also looking at Zhang An with resentment, because the gap in strength between the enemy and us was too big.

You know, they all wanted to buy seedlings from Zhang An to plant at home, but Zhang An refused and only provided them to the villagers of Changqing.

Fortunately, although the fruits are very different, they are not grown from the same variety.

Zhang An planted the red-heart variety for the villagers, which is sweeter and tastes more fragrant.

As for the people in other villages, some have green hearts, while others have yellow hearts.

Generally speaking, each one has its own characteristics, so if you meet someone who likes it, you won’t have to worry about not being able to sell it.

(End of this chapter)